1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for entering and exiting a vehicle, the apparatus including one or a plurality of steps or floor plates for accommodating a height difference between the floor level of the vehicle and the level of a platform or of the terrain outside of the vehicle. It relates further to a railroad car having such an apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Entering or exiting railroad vehicles generally proceeds via stationary stairs or steps, folding steps or a combination of stationary stairs and movable steps. For commuter trains and subways, platforms at stations are often located at the level of the floor of the car such that no steps are needed.
For railway systems (i.e., the combination of passenger cars and stations or platforms), the level of the car or vehicle floor is located above or at the level of the platforms. This means that stairs are necessary for climbing into or descending from the railroad car.
Some of the recent high performance trains include wheels and associated undercarriages located between the car bodies which accordingly have a car floor located at a very low level. An example of such a high performance train is the TALGO PENDULAR operating predominantly in Spain, but also more recently on other European high speed railroad lines. Such vehicles or cars do not experience problems concerning passenger entering or exiting as long as they operate on railway system having platforms located at a low level such as is the case in most instances in Europe. However, when these trains are operated on a railway system having elevated platforms, such as is the case in the North East Corridor in the U.S.A. and also recently in certain high speed lines in Europe, there exists the problem of descending from the elevated platform down into the car. In some railroad networks, low level platforms are also present, creating additional problems.
Railroad trains present problems for handicapped persons bound, e.g., to wheelchairs. Entering or exiting railroad systems in which the platform and the floor of the car are located at about the same level poses little problems. However, when larger height differences between the platform and the level of the floor of the car are encountered, the person bound to the wheelchair can not use the railroad without assistance.
The floor of a railroad vehicle is commonly located about 50 centimeters to 1 meter above the platform. Wheelchairs are loaded on or off of railroad vehicles using fork-lifts, elevating platforms or wheelchair elevators mounted to the railroad car which lift the handicapped persons together with their wheelchair into the car. The above mentioned high performance trains, in which the undercarriages are mounted between the car bodies and which have an extremely low floor, are very problematic for handicapped persons in wheelchairs. Employing a fork-lift is not practicable because the wheelchair would have to be lowered from the high platform down to the low floor of the railroad car. An elevator must be mounted to the car and the elevator must be able to bypass steps provided for the entrance and exit of the car for healthy people.